July 14, 2026

Michael Froman

A complex dynamic of fear and love was on full display in Ankara, Turkey, where thirty-two NATO heads of state and key partners just gathered for the alliance’s thirty-sixth summit. CFR President Froman analyzes the wins from this year’s summit. Read the brief

Check out additional CFR resources on topics in global governance:

• At the NATO Summit, Europe Faces an Accelerating U.S. Decoupling, by Liana Fix and Anna Terkhorn
• Where Are U.S. Military Forces Deployed in Europe? by Molly Carlough, Benjamin Harris, and Abi McGowan
• The Strait of Hormuz Already Faces a Tough Recovery. Now Trump’s Iran Deal Is Unraveling, by Edward Fishman, Clara Gillispie, Elisa Ewers, Max Boot, and Sam Vigersky
• How Aid to Gaza Compares Across Arab Countries, by Mariel Ferragamo and Christina Bouri
• Africa Has Faced a Rare Ebola Outbreak for Months. Here’s What to Know, by Roxy Ekberg, Mariel Ferragamo, and Diana Roy
• The U.S. Is Losing the AI Credibility War—to Itself, by Matthew Ferren
• The World Cup Exposes North American Frictions, and Offers a Chance to Reconnect, by Inu Manak
• The Balogun Red Card Reversal Shows That the U.S. Plays By Its Own Rules, by Ebenezer Obadare

Joshua Kurlantzick

The Trump administration now demands that Asian partners dramatically increase defense spending—the same pressure it has applied to NATO allies for years. That push is giving China an opening in Asia it has long sought. CFR Senior Fellow for Southeast Asia and South Asia Kurlantzick analyzes the situation. Read the article

Henri J. Barkey

CFR Adjunct Senior Fellow for Middle East Studies Barkey argues that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is poised to use the Ankara summit to burnish his own credentials as a global power broker and to signal his increasingly absolute power domestically. Read the expert take

Liana Fix

The Group of Seven (G7) summit produced the transatlantic alignment—albeit a fragile one—that Europe had hoped for on Iran and Ukraine. But European leaders should not feel relieved. CFR Senior Fellow for Europe Fix argues that now is the time to focus on building the strategic independence they will need if the consensus does not hold. Read the article

Rebecca Lissner

Most Americans still want the United States to lead globally—they just want to know what is in it for them. CFR Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy and Director of the Future of American Strategy Initiative Lissner explains the findings of CFR’s recent bipartisan conversations. Read the analysis

David J. Scheffer

Pope Leo XIV’s wide-reaching encyclical on artificial intelligence (AI) is a welcome warning on the perils of technological change that could trample on human rights. It also closely echoes established principles of international law. CFR Senior Fellow Scheffer breaks down what the encyclical could mean for AI’s future. Read the brief

Tony Oweke

The existing patchwork of AI standards and governance frameworks can both create and worsen cross-border harms from AI deployment. A central coordinating mechanism could help mitigate those risks. CFR Research Fellow for Artificial Intelligence Oweke asks whether the United Nations can play that role. Check out the article

Esther Brimmer and Alexander Sarchet

The next secretary-general of the United Nations will need to lead at a time of crises in all three pillars of the institution: peace and security, development, and human rights. Candidate Rafael Grossi tells CFR why he is suited for this moment. Read the expert take

David J. Scheffer

In a recent decision, the Supreme Court has made it more difficult to hold U.S. corporations liable for complicity in human rights violations overseas. Scheffer analyzes the ramifications for that landmark case in human rights law. Read the breakdown

Joshua Kurlantzick

Authoritarian governments are reaching across borders to silence their critics—and increasingly doing it together. Democracies have started fighting back. Kurlantzick argues that they need to move faster. Read the analysis